Far'un, Jubara (Kafriat)

Far’un, Jubara (Kafriat)

Place: Far'un CP Jubara (Kafriat)

Tags: Palestinian farmers

Observers: Miriam Shayish, Micky Fisher (reporting):

Sep-08-2015

| Morning

07:20 We arrived at the Far'un CP by way of the Te'enim – Jabara CP. The CP was supposed to be opened at 07:00 and about 80 farmers crowded together in front of it, some near the gate and others sitting on the side.

Beyond the gate we saw the military jeep and next to it military policemen.

The gate from the direction of the village was locked with a simple lock. The Palestinians, amongst which there were some farmers we knew, explained to us that they themselves had locked the gate as a protest, and had declared a strike until all the farmers got permits to enter their lands. According to them, during the last two or three months, many farmers had repeatedly submitted requests for the renewal of their permits, but up till now they had received no reply.

The Palestinian farmers had, at their own initiative, contacted the Palestinian DCO, whose officers had not yet begun to work at this hour of the morning, as well as the Israeli DCO, and they also approached the military police soldiers with the demand that the Israeli DCO officers, who are responsible for the dispensation of the permits, come to talk with them.

They asked that we too report on this. We contacted N., the woman officer of the Tul Karem district, and reported the strike and conveyed the Palestinians' request. Her reply was that we were encouraging the Palestinians to strike and to take action towards the improvement of their situation, and that she wasn't willing to cooperate with this. I made it clear to her that we were just reporting on the situation and that the Palestinians didn't need us in order to express their protest and to act as they see fit – they are flesh and blood like us and like the DCO officers and in the ongoing situation they surely had reached the end of their tether.

The DCO officers probably thought the matter over, or perhaps they were already on their way, when they understood that it would be best to pacify the situation. 20 minutes later the white DCO jeep was seen approaching the gate, and the DCO representatives emerged from it.

08:20 – One of the Palestinians took a hammer and simply broke the lock and approached the DCO officers. It seems that their first reaction did not satisfy the Palestinians, as 5 minutes later another lock was procured and the gate was locked again.

08:35 – 3 DCO officers went to the gate and talked to the farmers. This time the Palestinians opened the lock, and their delegation went to talk with the DCO officers and with the army. Then the farmers agreed, according to them, with the DCO officers that anybody who is an owner of land and has not yet been accorded a permit should register with W., the person at the DCO responsible for the dispensation of permits, who was present. They were also promised that whoever wouldn't get a reply or a permit a fortnight after the submission of the request to the Palestinian DCO, would go and arrange the matter directly at the Israeli DCO. As one of the farmers reported to us, they asked that sheds should be built for them as a refuge from rain and sun, on both sides of the CP. They were assured that their request would be considered and that they would endeavor to build sheds for them. Let’s hope!!

08:45 After these understandings the Palestinians opened the gate, arranged the queue for the farmers, and whoever had a permit entered by the gate, his permit and papers were quickly checked and within 25 minutes all the farmers who had a permit passed. The others who had no permits returned to their homes, probably hoping the their matter would be resolved in the next few days. The soldiers and the DCO officers locked the gates of the agricultural CP, which separates the lands of the seam-zone from the Palestinians. So this is the situation, until the forthcoming round and the next frustration.

09:15 We drove to the local village council. There A., the clerk responsible for the submission of the authorizations to the Palestinian liaison, told us again the many farmers who own lands from 30 to 120 dunams were not granted authorizations since many months and thus are unable to perform the seasonal work. The land produces thorns and thistles and often their plots of olive trees are burned down owing to the blazing summer heat.

A. promised to prepare an orderly list of land owners and send it. In the meantime we heard that some farmers got permits, and the list will probably arrive only on Sunday or Monday.

As the DCO officers celebrate the Jewish holidays, including the Sukkot mid-holidays, the DCO will be closed from the eve of the Atonement Day until after Sukkot, and the permits that are so urgently needed for the olive harvest will probably be delayed.

Perhaps there will be some good will and consideration for the overlapping of the holidays and the beginning of the olive harvest – once it used to be possible to talk to the head of the civil administration about the olive harvest, but slowly the occupation, acting as force majeure, creeps and settles and robs the olive plots of the Palestinians.

10:15 Jabara

We arrived at the donkeys' recovery ranch – the Europeans donated 4 ranches all over the West Bank, to which sick horses and donkeys are brought for rest and convalescence. The owner of the place told us that a veterinary arrives every week from Bak'a El-Garbiya to examine the animals and he himself grows near the ranch za'atar and parsley on a plot of about 2 dunams.

10:25 – three family members from Jabara who own 20 dunams did not receive permits for the Far'un gate. They submitted a request on 17.8.15, but an inquiry with the DCO officer showed that their request hasn’t reach the Israeli DCO, or has reached it and somehow got lost on the way. I informed the head of the family, who submitted new applications to the Palestinian liaison, and hopefully those will arrive before Sukkot.

10:50 We left again by way of the Te'enim-Jabara CP which was manned by military police – they asked cynically whether we enjoyed ourselves and asked for another photograph… Luckily one can sometimes amuse oneself in the occupation…

Far'un CP
See all reports for this place
- Far'un CP
  
  A checkpoint near the Palestinian town Far'un, which is located near the Green Line, about 4 kilometers south of Tulkarm . About 5,000 residents (2018) 2,000 people moved abroad and their homes were left empty.
  
  When the separation barrier was built in the early 2000's, about 4,000 dunams owned by the village were separated from the local farmers. In 2009, following a petition by the residents, the Israeli High Court ordered a change in the route of the fence. In May 2011 work began, and in 2013 it was completed. Following the movement of the fence, 1,400 dunams are located within the village area and for the 2,600 dunams remained in the Seam Zone behind the Separation barrier. The can arrive to these only through Far'un agricultural checkpoint 708.
  
  MachsomWatch have been in touch with the village farmer since the early 2000s - visiting and documenting the checkpoint and the township . Over the years, the opening frequency of the checkpoint has changed from time to time: sometimes 3 times a week, sometimes twice a week, and sometimes it closed completely for a certain period without explanation. In addition - the checkpoint is opened usually only twice a day and this makes it difficult to cultivate, because the farmers are not able to stay in the fields all day. Throughout the years there were many delays in opening times the checkpoint and the farmers sometimes have to wait hours until they can go to work their plots.
  
  The most difficult problem is the limited number of permits approved by the Civil Administration for the transition to tillage. Many landowners have problems with lands that are not registered in their name but in the name of a deceased father. Registering is very expensive if the father had several sons and daughters to whom the land belonged after his death. They have no money to transfer their father's land in their name. Before the walls, block settings and gates that do not open, they divided the plot they inherited and had no problems processing. Today everything is complicated. Plots that have not been cultivated for several years may become state lands and pass to the settlers, residents of the seam area.
  
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Jubara (Kafriat)
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- The Jabra checkpoint was on Road 557, south of Tulkarm, on the side of the Figs Pass, which is located within the Palestinian Authority (a few kilometers east of the Green Line), and serves as an entry barrier from the territories to Israel. The checkpoint to the village of Jubara, which until 2013 was in the seam area, blocked and surrounded by a fence, was intended for the passage of the family members of the house next to the checkpoint, and also for the MachsomWatch volunteers (with special permission only), on their way to checkpoint 753. on the other side of the village. The soldiers supervising the "fig crossing" also supervised the crossing at this checkpoint, in our shifts we often waited a long time until the key was found and the gate opened. The checkpoint was abolished and became part of the separation fence that was moved west following the High Court.

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